a two-minute video was broadcast on several secure sites and through jihadist messaging applications. One sees a man holding a machine gun in his hands, speaking in Arabic. He is surrounded by those who seem to be militiamen. They claim to belong to the Madinat Tawhid wa-l-Muwahidin group (MTM, the city of monotheism and monotheists), calling "Muslims around the world to come to the Congo to perform a" hijrah ".

However, this video leaves some doubts, despite the fact that it is confirmed by SITE Intelligence Group, or TRAC, two institutions specialized in research on terrorism. Hakim Maludi, head of the Dunia Kongo Media site, who specializes in security issues and those dealing with the Muslim community in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, said there are elements that should be taken with caution.

"I have seen and listened to the statement of this Arab fighter. In his appeal, he invites Muslims remaining in the dar al-kufr (pagan / non-Muslim lands) to join "Central Africa" ​​(he does not cite the Congo) called "land of Islam and combat". In general, the discourse of the jihadists is well established, it is made to strike the spirits. Here it seems rather incoherent since it speaks of "land of Islam" for a country dominated by Christianity, and historically linked to traditional religions and ancestral beliefs, "he said.


Moreover, the exact location of the organization presented in this video is also puzzled. "If we were to speak of the land of Islam, we would rather do it for the Maniema, which historically is the stronghold of Islam in the Congo. Still on the aspect of the location, the fighter who expresses himself says he is in the "madinat at-tawhid" (the city of monotheism), "he adds.

While acknowledging plausible evidence of the presence of such an organization in the region, Maludi noted that the video could refer to the former Madina camp, the central position of the ADF until 2014, and of which rumors " visibly unfounded, "said that it had been taken over by the rebels following the October 8-9 attack on the Mbau-Kamango road.

"On this subject, the fighter on the video makes no reference to the events of last week in Beni. We are not even sure, since the document is not dated, it is not an old video of the time when the ADF reigned in this part of the territory of Beni, "he explains.

"The other inconsistency, already observed with ADFs, is that in general, jihadists operate in areas where they have clear territorial or political claims, or in territories where they seek to respond to oppression suffered by a Muslim minority. The DRC is not Burma. In North Kivu, as in all parts of the Congo, communities coexist peacefully and power does not target or oppress Muslims at all, "he added.

A caliphate in preparation?

Nevertheless, the jihadist thesis is supported by other independent sources. In an interview with Geopolis magazine on France Info, Congolese journalist Nicaise Kibel'bel, who conducted an investigation, announces a caliphate is in the making in this province. In these regions there is a barbarity exercised in the name of the Sharia, explains Nicaise Kibel'bel to Geopolis Africa.

The Congolese investigative journalist is familiar with North Kivu, where the Islamists have taken up residence. They recruit young people from amongst a population scared and abandoned to face a real criminal enterprise, denounces our colleague.

"This business started with a seduction campaign. She first settled in the great forest of Virunga National Park, in the great forest of Mount Ruwenzori. She made contact with local people. She married Congolese women. She organized a small business with young people. It has forged almost unbounded links with the population before it starts to act. "

The establishment of the Islamists was facilitated by the chaos that prevails in this region of eastern DRC. It is the soft belly of the African Great Lakes region that groups around the DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya, notes Nicaise Kibel'bel who warns in a a book published by Scribes publishing the advent of Jihad in DR Congo, an Islamist terrorism ADF little known.

"I do not speak to the conditional. I speak in the present. Islamic terrorism is already raging. In my book, we give testimonies of survivors, hostages, children, raped women, bashed skulls. "

Horrors committed by Muslim fanatics from the Pakistani Tabliq sect who settled first in Tanzania in the 1920s. As the book's author indicates, they later struck in Uganda from the 1990s onwards to take refuge in the settlements of the Ruwenzori, in the east of the DRC, from 1995.

"Indeed, Islamist terrorism has settled in the Kivu, especially in Beni in North Kivu by three entries. You have Uvira in South Kivu on the border with Tanzania; Beni, on the border with Uganda and Ituri in the northeast of the DRC. They have benefited from the porosity of the borders and have found a land where the landscapes are favorable to them. With the forest and its ravines, with its cliffs, its caves and all that nature can give in the impenetrable forest of Virunga Park. That's where they set up their base they call Medina. "

An anglophone reporter confirmed that the authenticity of the video broadcast. For him, the MTM group is indeed affiliated with the militia of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). "They have been associated with ADF for several years now. They even share camps [Makayoba camp 3], mosques, hospitals ... "he explains.

Moreover, in August 2016, after the umpteenth attack on Algerian Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels near Beni, causing more than 35 deaths, the Congolese government claims to face a terrorist group practicing "international jihadism". An affirmation questioned by the Congolese opposition and the public opinion through the social networks.

In his speech, Lambert Mende, spokesman for the Congolese government and Minister of Communication and Media, stressed that his country is confronting a group that applies what it calls "international jihadism" and calls on the international community to intervene.

This intervention by Lambert Mende provoked a real outcry over social networks and with Congolese opponents who, for them, the government "hides its weaknesses" behind an "imaginary" terrorist group. Martin Fayulu, president of an opposition political party, spoke of an "artificial crisis", while Moses Katumbi, another opponent of the government of President Joseph Kabila, speaks of the government's irresponsibility to "secure civilian populations" .

Jihadist camps for children spotted in 2015

 However, the massacres in this battered region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have not started today. And, despite the support of the world's largest UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), barely-identified assailants continue to cause terror among civilian populations.

Neither the presence of President Joseph Kabila nor the massive deployment of the Congolese Armed Forces and those of Monusco seem to overcome these obscure forces. Worse, the idea of ​​a terrorist group was not born of the Congolese government. In July 2015, AED (Aid to the Church in Need), an international Catholic foundation of pontifical right, helps Christians who are threatened, persecuted, refugees or needy; was the first to evoke this hypothesis.


As a matter of fact, Maria Lozano, Deputy Director of Communications of the AED, revealed on July 20, 2015, the presence of three camps located on the mountains of Ruwenzori, children between the ages of nine and fifteen; mostly orphans but also children attracted with the promise of escaping poverty.

Among the children recruited: boys were seen with camouflage uniforms, doing military exercises; the girls, who have the obligation to wear the burqa, would be prepared to marry Islamist fighters. Worse, Maria Lozano declared that girls would be subjected to sexual slavery, practices that are reminiscent of those of the radical Islamist group operating in West Africa, the Boko Haram.

In addition, the German-based foundation in eastern DRC stated that the presence of Pakistani Muslim fundamentalists among members of the United Nations responsible for the Stabilization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), suggests their complicity in the sudden presence of these jihadist camps in a country mostly dominated by Christians.

These members of the UN would be at the initiative of schools Koranic and construction sites of mosques under construction. The testimony of the deputy director of communications of the AED is available in full on the site of the EDA.

However, to date no other source has been able to confirm these allegations. Moreover, the current political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, coupled by the suspected desire of President Joseph Kabila to remain in power beyond his last presidential term, which ends in December, raises serious doubts about the "Quite frankly, I am not an expert on jihadism issues, but today, the appearance of such a group in North Kivu is quite confusing. Is this really a new rebellion? Is it an old video exhumed today with a specific purpose? What is sad is that once again, it is North Kivu that is targeted, a province at the heart of the "balkanisation" theory of the Congo, with about 40 armed groups "

"Hakim Maludi said:" Last week, the alleged ADF returned to Beni before the Kasai, and a few weeks ago the Mayi-Mayi in South Kivu and Maniema . Without being too complicated, in the current political context, seeing the sources of insecurity igniting one after the other necessarily poses a question.

International jihadism, we have long had the impression that someone wanted to convince us, with its presence in eastern Congo, "he adds.